Selecting a distribution is key for your setup.
Selecting a distribution is key for your setup.
You should choose Ubuntu MATE since you're simple, a bit lazy, and happy with GNOME 2.
As long as you avoid adding any other desktop setup, it performs very well in my opinion!
You're welcome, and yes, Linux Mint offers a straightforward kernel manager. It used to have a strong warning prompt before installing new kernels, which made the process more cautious. It could definitely be a good option for gaming now! I might consider giving it a try on my main system later.
I use Manjaro as my main Linux setup. Some users may grumble about certain aspects like letting SSL certificates lapse, including non-FLOSS office tools, but it functions smoothly for me. The rolling release model keeps me with the latest versions without relying on third-party packages such as Flatpak or Snap. AUR compatibility is excellent—I rarely run into issues that aren’t already available in my distro, though I personally dislike restrictive sandboxing. It feels a bit like Arch, but with delayed updates and a curated selection. This approach helps avoid frequent breakages, especially when you follow the forum updates for each stable release. I’ve tried Manjaro on both personal and professional machines. For me, the ideal distro is one that works seamlessly without unnecessary restrictions. Solus is solid too, but its repository is much smaller, likely the smallest among major distros. Still, it’s straightforward to build packages yourself if you have the right dependencies. On servers, I stick with Ubuntu LTS, which gives me peace of mind knowing security patches will last a decade without constant manual effort.
Pop!_OS offers an updater that helps maintain compatibility with newer hardware beyond what upstream versions support. Although I don’t personally enjoy the current release due to its age, I appreciate experimenting with recent Gnome/KDE releases for both performance and ease of setup. System76 positions itself as a system integrator, prioritizing hardware functionality. In a recent podcast, one of their engineers discussed how Pop!_OS was created to simplify computer configuration—Ubuntu would have required six months in 2017/2018 for updates, which wasn’t feasible. This led them to develop their own distro to update hardware compatibility more quickly and leverage their internal testing capabilities.
They're likely running a stable kernel with older software. It's probably not the latest version, maybe something similar to Ubuntu, but not a rolling release. Updating via the AUR on Manjaro can be very difficult. Installing cutting-edge packages that require newer dependencies often causes issues, and too many AUR items can damage the system after updates. This is based on my experience with Manjaro and what others have told me. If it meets your needs, it's fine—supporting Linux-based distributions is a win for me.